Langley Labor Of Love

Race Officials, Fans Make Commitment

July 21, 1989|By AL PEARCE Staff Writer

HAMPTON — It was almost 12:30 last Sunday morning when Randy Nester finally waved the checkered flag to end Langley Raceway's five-feature program.

Nester, wearing goggles for protection from grit and debris, worked alone on the flagstand for the better part of five hours. He flagged the afternoon practice sessions, three rounds of qualifying and five features.

FOR THE RECORD - Published correction ran Saturday, July 22, 1989. The Langley raceway story misidentified a quote by superintendant Ron Kitchen, which was incorrectly attributed to chief steward Johnny Norton.

In the control tower, as Danny Edwards won the Late Model 50, chief steward Johnny Norton exhaled loudly and said, "Well, folks, we got another one in. Let's go home and do it again next weekend."

Like many of the track's 44 full-time and weekend employees, Norton was on-site for 12 hours last Saturday. He stood most of the time, a two-way radio to his ear.

Officiating must be a labor of love, for neither Norton nor his support officials make enough to justify working 28 consecutive weekends in the spring, summer and early fall.

Says Norton, back for his second stint as chief steward: "Once racing gets in your blood, it's mighty hard to get it out."

Saturday was a 17-hour work day for track superintendent Ron Kitchen. Unlike most employees, he had to wait around until the race teams loaded their equipment before he could lock up and go home.

"You name it, I do it - or get it done," he said. "I paint, landscape, grade the parking lot, stock the control tower, answer the phones, clean the track, be sure the rest rooms and concession stands work, drive the pace car, fix the lights, lock and unlock the doors and clean up.

"The only thing we don't do around here is stand still."

THE STORY WAS similiar all over the track:

* General manager Joe Baldacci and his staff spent the evening counting ticket receipts, filling out attendance and concession reports, paying employees and reviewing how the rain-interrupted program had gone.

* In a nearby trailer Norton and his officials met to review the program and pay approximately 85 drivers. They listened patiently to some complaints and not-so-patiently to others.

Together, they serve as traffic cop, judge and jury, Father Confessor, whipping boy and psychologist to drivers who don't think they ever do anything wrong. (Well, hardly ever).

* Scorers Steve Lowery and Joyce Fox had a relatively easy night. They tracked every car in the Late Model, Grand Stock, All-American and Mini-Stock features, and helped visiting scorers Gene and Sylvia Painter in the Charlotte-Daytona Dash feature.

It is a tribute to their lap-after-lap concentration that there wasn't a single major challenge to their work.

* When the final race ended Duke and Vera Osborne checked their watches. Their job is to keep fans from the pits for 15 minutes while crews gather up most of their equipment.

"Whether they're a champion or have never won a race," Duke said of the drivers, "we try to treat 'em all the same."

* Mike Ulmer and his safety/clean-up crew had a busy night. They helped dry the track after an early-evening shower, spread oil-dry when Roger Sawyer's engine blew, repaired guardrail during the Dash 100, pushed a Mini-Stock from a hole and hauled in two wrecked Grand Stocks and several Late Models.

Ulmer doesn't advertise that he'd work for nothing. "I love it out here," he said proudly. "It's kept me out of trouble for eight years."

THROUGH IT ALL last weekend, the ticket-buying fans were stars in their own right.

The first $12 ticket was sold at 3:01 p.m., one minute after the ticket windows opened. There were still 4 1/2 hours until the first race.

The fans poured in between 5:30 and 6:45, then poured out when a hard shower pounded the track for 30 minutes. The instant the rain stopped, the fans came back, almost 4,000 of them.

Perhaps half were still watching when Nester showed Edwards the checkered flag at 12:25 a.m.

No wonder Baldacci called his customers, "The best fans in the world."